A television programme broadcast by Vietnam Television (VTV) has raised serious doubts about some alleged psychics’ real capacity in finding the remains of revolutionary martyrs, since many of the remains "discovered" by them turned out to be animal bones.

Doubts raised about some alleged psychics’ real capacity in finding the remains of revolutionary martyrs

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Le Cat, from the Institute, said almost all of the samples said to be from revolutionary martyrs that were found by psychics, and then sent to the Institute were false. Despite being defined by the Institute as bogus remains, and reported as such to the bereaved families, a number of them still believe that the remains are genuine.

In September 2009, the Ministry of Defense and the family of revolutionary martyr Phung Chi Kien invited Telepath Phan Thi Bich Hang to search for his remains.

Martyr Phung Chi Kien became a Central Party member in 1935 and was the first person to be granted a General's military rank by late President Ho Chi Minh. He was tortured to death by French colonialists in 1941.

In 1990, Kien’s body was found and taken to a revolutionary martyr's cemetery, but his head remained missing. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense and his family decided to seek psychic Hang’s help. However, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Le Cat said, the test results showed that what Hang found for them was just ceramic shards and an animal tooth.

Nonetheless, Hang paid no attention to these findings, admitted nothing about the episode, but instead went ahead with her bogus "work" for other families of deceased martyrs.

The programme also exposed similar nefarious activities attributed to Vu Thi Hoa, who also calls herself a psychic.

Vu Thi Hoa with alleged remains of a revolutionary martyr

In March, 2011, Hoa’s tricks were exposed after the alleged remains of revolutionary martyrs, found at Tan Hiep Vu Prison in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, were actually termite nests and clay, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s History Institute.

In 2012, the 7th Military Region Command of the Vietnam People's Army, instructed the local Departments of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to investigate Hoa’s frauds and also those of a group named Tam Duc in Yen Bai Province.

Hoa, 41 years old, in Dong Tam Ward in Yen Bai City, had been a fish trader, but later, she was detained for illegally trading wild animals for profit. When that business went under, she instantly became a psychic and was quickly famous for her ability to find the remains of revolutionary martyrs.